How much can you Save?

[beaubeau11]

Hi there I’m just wondering how much if anything you save? I try and save but I always seem to dip into it which drives me crazy as I’m terrible with money and want to save but can’t seem to stick at it.

Any tips etc

I have two savings accounts, one is my 'if it goes in it never comes out' account and the other i save towards things like Christmas, birthdays, unexpected costs, etc and leave about 1k there, topping up when i need to before adding to the other. My current account I make sure I've left enough for food, days out with kids, petrol, dds, etc. The rest goes into savings.

If I want to get anything unbudgeted for it goes on the credit card which is paid in full the next month to keep my credit file healthy and make sure I stay on top of what I'm spending, so I've just paid off £85 I spent on clothes last month before transferring anything to savings.

I'm self employed so I have money coming in at different points throughout the month, but that's what I try to stick to. Interested to see how others do it.

Set up a direct debit to take money out of your account into a savings account. Work out a budget first so that it is money you can put away and not touch it. A smallish amount per month over a few years could grow to be quite a bit.

Every time you receive a raise or bonus (if you do) put that money away. Just pretend that you never had the money in the first place.
Stop buying endless clothes for the children (if you have any).
Ask your family and friends to give you money for their birthdays/Christmas. Buy them one really nice present and save the rest for when they reach 18 (they can use that money for university and learn to drive).
A friend of mine took out insurance polices on her children up to age 18. The money was used to help them pay their university fees.
Or you could start buying shares with their birthday/Christmas money.
Empty all the change in your purse and at the end of the month see how much money you have saved.
Take your own lunch. Cooking a bit more rice/potatoes/chicken would save you a lot on lunch every day.

Thankyou very much for your replies. You know when I log into my internet banking if I say had £183.20 I always pay the £3.20 to my mortgage account (save the change kind of thing) so that made me think I could do that into a savings account and just forgot about it.

I don’t have debt and we seem to have a comfortable lifestyle but something always seems to creep up where I have to dip into the savings. I know I could cut down the Starbucks for sure. Blush

This is how I became mortgage FREE at age 55/56.
I had an endowment mortgage and as the years went on, I realize that I might have to pay out at the end of the mortgage.
I converted my EM to a repayment mortgage - this was hard because the payments went up and it was a struggle.
Instead of cashing in the endowment part of the insurance I kept paying it.
Once I worked out my finance, I would pay between 50 and 100 pounds extra on the mortgage (I made sure to let the building society know that this extra money must be paid towards the principal).
Over time, I was shocked at how fast my mortgage was decreasing with that overpayment.
I actually completed paying off the mortgage on time
The endowment part of the insurance paid out close to 50,000 pounds (ideally it should have been 60,000).
Just think, if I had not converted my mortgage when I did, I would have had to find over 10,000 pounds to complete my mortgage.
I am telling you this to show how small things can add up to bigger things over time.
Now I am mortgage free and as light as a feather because my biggest debt is finally behind me.
I have no credit card debt - for me it's either a want or a need, something most people cannot differentiate.

That’s fab marjorie25. I am defiantly going to be more savvy and I actually get a buzzz out of paying these little amounts I added it up Iv paid over £300 just by paying the odd pound and pence here and there.
I also started saving £2 coins in December and have £400 there I found it easier saving those as you really have to think twice about breaking into one of those. Love peoples tips as my biggest fear is not having enough money to provide for my family.

You are welcome.
Also don't forget to treat yourself. Maybe once a month go out with your girlfriends and unwind with a meal or movie.
Or even go by yourself.
I love eating out by myself or going to the movie: I get the biggest popcorn and a drink and sit there enjoying the movie and no one interrupting me.
I usually wait until the movie have been out a long time and go to the matinee showing.

This is from an article written from Michelle Singletary who writes for the Washington Post in DC:

"But you’ve got to have a safe pot of money that isn’t subject to the ups and downs of investing. I have two types of rainy-day funds. The first is my emergency fund. That’s money set aside for drastic financial situations such as a job loss. This pot of money could sustain my household for about a year without any income, meaning my husband and I could pay all our bills — mortgage, utilities, cable, food, school fees, transportation, vet visits for the dog, etc.

It’s important that you don’t just focus on saving for the major household expense categories. In my experience, it takes people a few months before they reduce their expenses after they lose income.

To arrive at what should be in your emergency fund, pull your bank statements and add up everything it takes to run your household for a month and multiply that figure by the number of months you want to have saved.

I know that a year’s worth of living expenses is aggressive if you’re new at saving. So, starting out, aim for just one month. Make the figure too high and it’ll be so daunting that you’ll give up. Then go for three months. You’ll be in good shape when you get to six months.

Hope this helps.